Navigate Difficulty with this Quiet skill

How do you successfully navigate difficult times? PRACTICE skills before you need it. 

As an example. I developed a gratitude practice as a go-to ritual. It’s something I practice often, so it’s easy for me to see the good in life as well as what’s working well. 

So, when I have a difficult day, gratitude becomes my default. It’s a regular part of my emotional toolkit preventing me from being hauled into drama or being upset for longer than I want to be. 

Practicing skills is like creating an emergency plan. IF this happens, THEN do this. You spring into action knowing what to do. 

TRUTH 🔥: It’s difficult to practice skills in the middle of a challenging situation, so practice in advance instead.

Practicing is a quiet, power skill. 

You will be seen as effective, emotionally polished, and a high functioning manager when you show off your practiced leadership skills during a time of need.

For example, managers should know how to coach their people effectively. When I say coach, I don’t mean cheerleading or giving people suggestions of what to do. 

Coaching is a skill that a leader practices in everyday situations by listening intently and asking questions to help move a situation forward. A leader who uses coaching skills becomes a powerful facilitator empowering others to think and solve problems for themselves. 

Challenging, overwhelming and difficult times are coming.

The common go-to behaviour of leaders is to solve the problem or tell someone to solve the problem. This is where coaching skills would be effective. You help the other person come to a solution by asking questions. Switching to asking questions and knowing how to use them to empower others is a SKILL. People don’t do this naturally because leaders think they should know it all. 

Newsflash⚡️: You don’t need to know it all! But you do need to know how to unlock the potential and solutions within others.

If you have not practiced your coaching skills doing easy times, you’re not going to default to these skills in times of need because they’re not familiar to you.

Quietly practice skills before they are needed.

Coaching Question: Looking ahead, what do you want to be prepared for?

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